Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Produce Vol. 1 Mixtape

There are plenty of talented bands and artists currently making music, who have no idea they could potentially be way more successful if they switched gears and started producing Hip-Hop. After all, the best rap beats are based around an engaging melody or melodic sample and most musicians have the technical chops to hammer out catchy loops all day. Yet, many maybe great rap producers are oblivious to that fact and instead fight the much tougher uphill battle of trying to succeed by knocking out full songs, albums and tours.

In the case of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., they’ve been relatively successful as an indie rock band. The Metro Detroit-based duo is signed with Warner Bros, have appeared on Conan and do one of the best Whitney Houston covers you’ll ever see live. No matter how you cut it, they do well for themselves. Yet, with the release of their latest project Produce Vol. 1, the Jr. Jr. boys – a duo composed of Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein – look to be turning a page in their career.

Although the musicality of this free release isn’t too far removed from the hodgepodge of throwback pop found on their previous projects, Dale took a page from the playbook above and shifted their approach a bit in a way that would cater to MCs. As a result, fans are treated to unique concoctions like the bubbly “Rush Into Love,” featuring Chuck Inglish and Slim from 112, and “Crazy For Ya” with King Chip. The best example of their new unrefined approach to rap might be “Lover Lover Lover,” which offers an emotionally-charged landscape for Murs to tell an extremely vivid story rap that truly captures the essence of not just a single genre, but music in general.

If more non-rap acts would consider diving into Hip-Hop, results as fresh as this Produce Vol. 1 tape from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. might clear out some of the blight from our favorite genre.